Marine Biology Commons^™

Underwater Explosion Energy Dissipation Near Waterborne Infrastructure, Paul R. Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Underwater explosions pose a significant threat to waterborne infrastructure though destructive pressure waves that can travel significant distances through the water. However, the use of bubble screens can attenuate the peak pressure and energy flux created by explosions to safe levels. This study investigates the prediction of pressure wave characteristics based on accumulated data, the damage potential of underwater explosions based on applied loads and effective material strength, and the bubble screen parameters required to prevent damage. The results were compiled to form a procedure for the design and implementation of a bubble screen the protection of waterborne infrastructure.

Island Building In The South China Sea: Detection Of Turbidity Plumes And Artificial Islands Using Landsat And Modis Data, Brian B. Barnes, Chuanmin Hu

Marine Science Faculty Publications

The South China Sea is currently in a state of intense geopolitical conflict, with six countries claiming sovereignty over some or all of the area. Recently, several countries have carried out island building projects in the Spratly Islands, converting portions of coral reefs into artificial islands. Aerial photography and high resolution satellites can capture snapshots of this construction, but such data are lacking in temporal resolution and spatial scope. In contrast, lower resolution satellite sensors with regular repeat sampling allow for more rigorous assessment and monitoring of changes to the reefs and surrounding areas. Using Landsat-8 data at ≥15-m resolution, …

Linking Oceanographic Modeling And Benthic Mapping With Habitat Suitability Models For Pink Shrimp On The West Florida Shelf, Peter J. Rubec, Jesse Lewis, David Reed, Christi Santi, Robert H. Weisberg, Lianyuan Zheng, Chris Jenkins, Charles F. Ashbaugh, Curt Lashley, Salvatore Versaggi

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Research was undertaken to model and map the spatial distributions and abundances of pink shrimp Farfantepenaeus duorarum on the West Florida Shelf (WFS) using habitat suitability modeling (HSM). Data loggers and electronic logbook systems on three shrimp boats were used to gather catch and effort data along with bottom temperature, salinity, and depth data at the fishing locations. Vessel monitoring system (VMS) data supplied by the fishing company helped delineate areas with high fishing activity. For the vessels participating in this study, significantly higher mean catch per unit effort (CPUE) of pink shrimp was realized on the WFS during June–September …

Recent Change - North Sea, Thomas Wahl

Marine Science Faculty Publications

This chapter discusses past and ongoing change in the following physical variables within the North Sea: temperature, salinity and stratification; currents and circulation; mean sea level; and extreme sea levels. Also considered are carbon dioxide; pH and nutrients; oxygen; suspended particulate matter and turbidity; coastal erosion, sedimentation and morphology; and sea ice. The distinctive character of the Wadden Sea is addressed, with a particular focus on nutrients and sediments. This chapter covers the past 200 years and focuses on the historical development of evidence (measurements, process understanding and models), the form, duration and accuracy of the evidence available, and what …

Refinement Of The Critical Angle Calculation For The Contrast Reversal Of Oil Slicks Under Sunglint, Yingcheng Lu, Shaojie Sun, Minwei Zhang, Brock Murch, Chuanmin Hu

C-IMAGE Publications

It has long been observed that oil slicks under sunglint can reverse their optical contrast against nearby oil‐free seawater. Such a phenomenon has been described through both empirical statistical analysis of the sunglint strength and modeled theoretically using a critical angle concept. The critical angle, in this model, is the angle at which the image pixels show no or negligible contrast between oiled and nonoiled seawater. Pixels away from this critical angle show either positive or negative contrast from the oil‐free pixels. Although this concept has been fully demonstrated in the published literature, its calculation needs to be further refined …

Gulf Of Mexico Low-Frequency Ocean Soundscape Impacted By Airguns, Sean M. Wiggins, Jesse M. Hall, Bruce J. Thayre, John A. Hildebrand

C-IMAGE Publications

The ocean soundscape of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has not been well-studied, although it is an important habitat for marine mammals, including sperm and beaked whales, many dolphin species, and a potentially endangered baleen whale species. The GOM is also home to high levels of hydrocarbon exploration and extraction, heavily used commercial shipping ports, and significant fishery industry activity, all of which are known contributors to oceanic noise. From 2010–2013, the soundscape of three deep and two shallow water sites in the GOM were monitored over 10 – 1000 Hz. Average sound pressure spectrum levels were high, > 90 dB …

How Did The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Impact Deep-Sea Ecosystems?, Charles R. Fisher, Paul A. Montagna, Tracey Sutton

C-IMAGE Publications

Approximately 90% of the volume of the Gulf of Mexico is contained in water deeper than 200 m, a region where the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout had more impact on ecosystems than any previous oil spill. The remoteness and relative inaccessibility of the deep sea makes documenting even acute impacts to the animals that live in this realm difficult. This article reviews Natural Resource Damage Assessment studies and follow-up work funded as part of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative that targeted deepwater pelagic and benthic fauna. Oil was incorporated into the pelagic food web, and a reduction in planktonic …

Recent Increases In Arctic Freshwater Flux Affects Labrador Sea Convection And Atlantic Overturning Circulation, Qian Yang, Tim Dixon, Paul G. Myers, Jennifer Bonin, Don Chambers, M.R. Van Den Broeke, Mads H. Ribergaard, John Mortensen

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is an important component of ocean thermohaline circulation. Melting of Greenland’s ice sheet is freshening the North Atlantic; however, whether the augmented freshwater flux is disrupting the AMOC is unclear. Dense Labrador Sea Water (LSW), formed by winter cooling of saline North Atlantic water and subsequent convection, is a key component of the deep southward return flow of the AMOC. Although LSW formation recently decreased, it also reached historically high values in the mid-1990s, making the connection to the freshwater flux unclear. Here we derive a new estimate of the recent freshwater flux from …

Sun Glint Requirement For The Remote Detection Of Surface Oil Films, Shaojie Sun, Chuanmin Hu

C-IMAGE Publications

Natural oil slicks in the western Gulf of Mexico are used to determine the sun glint threshold required for optical remote sensing of oil films. The threshold is determined using the same‐day image pairs collected by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra (MODIST), MODIS Aqua (MODISA), and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) (N  = 2297 images) over the same oil slick locations where at least one of the sensors captures the oil slicks. For each sensor, statistics of sun glint strengths, represented by the normalized glint reflectance (L GN, sr−1), when oil slicks can and cannot be …

Dragon Kings Of The Deep Sea: Marine Particles Deviate Markedly From The Common Number-Size Spectrum, Alexander B. Bochdansky, Melissa A. Clouse, Gerhard J. Herndl

OES Faculty Publications

Particles are the major vector for the transfer of carbon from the upper ocean to the deep sea. However, little is known about their abundance, composition and role at depths greater than 2000 m. We present the first number-size spectrum of bathy-and abyssopelagic particles to a depth of 5500 m based on surveys performed with a custom-made holographic microscope. The particle spectrum was unusual in that particles of several millimetres in length were almost 100 times more abundant than expected from the number spectrum of smaller particles, thereby meeting the definition of "dragon kings." Marine snow particles overwhelmingly contributed to …

A Highly Sensitive Underwater Video System For Use In Turbid Aquaculture Ponds, Chin-Chang Hung, Shih-Chieh Tsao, Kuo-Hao Huang, Hsu-Kunag Chang, Fred C. Dobbs

OES Faculty Publications

The turbid, low-light waters characteristic of aquaculture ponds have made it difficult or impossible for previous video cameras to provide clear imagery of the ponds' benthic habitat. We developed a highly sensitive, underwater video system (UVS) for this particular application and tested it in shrimp ponds having turbidities typical of those in southern Taiwan. The system's high-quality video stream and images, together with its camera capacity (up to nine cameras), permit in situ observations of shrimp feeding behavior, shrimp size and internal anatomy, and organic matter residues on pond sediments. The UVS can operate continuously and be focused remotely, a …

The Contribution Of Marine Aggregate-Associated Bacteria To The Accumulation Of Pathogenic Bacteria In Oysters: An Agent-Based Model, Andrew M. Kramer, J. Evan Ward, Fred C. Dobbs, Melissa L. Pierce

OES Faculty Publications

Bivalves process large volumes of water, leading to their accumulation of bacteria, including potential human pathogens (e.g., vibrios). These bacteria are captured at low efficiencies when freely suspended in the water column, but they also attach to marine aggregates, which are captured with near 100% efficiency. For this reason, and because they are often enriched with heterotrophic bacteria, marine aggregates have been hypothesized to function as important transporters of bacteria into bivalves. The relative contribution of aggregates and unattached bacteria to the accumulation of these cells, however, is unknown. We developed an agent-based model to simulate accumulation of vibrio-type bacteria …

Patterns Of Transcript Abundance Of Eukaryotic Biogeochemically-Relevant Genes In The Amazon River Plume, Brian L. Zielinski, Andrew E. Allen, Edward J. Carpenter, Victoria J. Coles, Byron C. Crump, Mary Doherty, Rachel A. Foster, Joaquim I. Goes, Helga R. Gomes, Raleigh R. Hood, John P. Mccrow, Joseph P. Montoya, Ahmed Moustafa, Brandon M. Satinsky, Shalabh Sharma, Christa B. Smith, Patricia L. Yager, John H Paul

Marine Science Faculty Publications

The Amazon River has the largest discharge of all rivers on Earth, and its complex plume system fuels a wide array of biogeochemical processes, across a large area of the western tropical North Atlantic. The plume thus stimulates microbial processes affecting carbon sequestration and nutrient cycles at a global scale. Chromosomal gene expression patterns of the 2.0 to 156 μm size-fraction eukaryotic microbial community were investigated in the Amazon River Plume, generating a robust dataset (more than 100 million mRNA sequences) that depicts the metabolic capabilities and interactions among the eukaryotic microbes. Combining classical oceanographic field measurements with metatranscriptomics yielded …

Quantification Of Boat Visitation Rates At Artificial And Natural Reefs In The Eastern Gulf Of Mexico Using Acoustic Recorders, Peter Simard, Kara R. Wall, David A. Mann, Carrie C. Wall, Christopher D. Stallings

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Artificial reefs are commonly used as a management tool, in part to provide ecosystem services, including opportunities for recreational fishing and diving. Quantifying the use of artificial reefs by recreational boaters is essential for determining their value as ecosystem services. In this study, four artificial–natural reef pairs in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (off western Florida) were investigated for boat visitation rates using autonomous acoustic recorders. Digital SpectroGram (DSG) recorders were used to collect sound files from April 2013 to March 2015. An automatic detection algorithm was used to identify boat noise in individual files using the harmonic peaks generated …

The Effect Of Depth On Development And Sexual Dimorphism Of The Sonic System In Deep Sea Neobythitine Fishes: The Upper Continental Slope, Heba Ali

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Background: Cusk-eels from the subfamily Neobythiitinae are one of the major groups of sound-producing fishes on the continental slope. Sounds have never been recorded from a member of this subfamily, and sonic anatomy is considered a proxy for sound production. As the first part of a study on the effects of depth on sonic anatomy, we examined three relatively shallow species from the upper continental slope.

Methods: Three species (Hoplobrotula armata, Neobythites longipes and Neobythites unimaculatus) were examined for sonic anatomy (skeleton, swimbladder and sonic muscles), and sonic and epaxial muscle fibers were measured for diameter. …

Developing Priority Variables (“Ecosystem Essential Ocean Variables” — Eeovs) For Observing Dynamics And Change In Southern Ocean Ecosystems, Andrew J. Constable, Daniel P. Costa, Oscar Schofield, Louise Newman, Edward R. Urban Jr., Elizabeth A. Fulton, Jessica Melbourne-Thomas, Tosca Ballerini, Philip W. Boyd, Angelika Brandt, Eileen E. Hofmann

CCPO Publications

Reliable statements about variability and change in marine ecosystems and their underlying causes are needed to report on their status and to guide management. Here we use the Framework on Ocean Observing (FOO) to begin developing ecosystem Essential Ocean Variables (eEOVs) for the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS). An eEOV is a defined biological or ecological quantity, which is derived from field observations, and which contributes significantly to assessments of Southern Ocean ecosystems. Here, assessments are concerned with estimating status and trends in ecosystem properties, attribution of trends to causes, and predicting future trajectories. eEOVs should be feasible to collect …

A Missing Link In The Ionoregulatory Strategy Of Larval Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon Marinus) And African Lungfish (Protopterus Annectens): A Closer Look Into The Role Of The Non-Gastric H+/K+-Atpase, Justine E. Doherty

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Fishes living in freshwater need to actively compensate for the diffusive loss of ions and osmotic gain of water. The gill is the primary organ of ion regulation and contains an array of ion transport proteins to help maintain homeostasis. Two of the more well studied ion pumps are the Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase (NKA) and vacuolar type proton ATPase (V-ATPase). This thesis focuses on another ion pump known as the non-gastric H⁺/K⁺-ATPase (ngHKA). The ngHKA (gene: atp12a) has not been found in any of the teleost fishes, indicating loss from that lineage. In …

Development Of A Low-Cost Arduino-Based Sonde For Coastal Applications, Grant Lockridge, Brian Dzwonkowski, Reid Nelson, Sean P. Powers

University Faculty and Staff Publications

This project addresses the need for an expansion in the monitoring of marine environments by providing a detailed description of a low cost, robust, user friendly sonde, built on Arduino Mega 2560 (Mega) and Arduino Uno (Uno) platforms. The sonde can be made without specialized tools or training and can be easily modified to meet individual application requirements. The platform allows for internal logging of multiple parameters of which conductivity, temperature, and GPS position are demonstrated. Two design configurations for different coastal hydrographic applications are highlighted to show the robust and versatile nature of this sensor platform. The initial sonde …

Utilization Of Satellite-Derived Salinity To Study Indian Ocean Climate Variability, Joseph Matthew D’Addezio

Theses and Dissertations

For several decades, researchers have explored Indian Ocean climate variability primarily using numerical models because of a lack of observations. Remote sensing technology has helped overcome this scarcity of observational data, but satellite-derived salinity has only been recently made available by the ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS, operating since November 2009-present) and NASA’s Aquarius SAC-D (operated during June 2011-June 2015) satellites. Along with the Lagrangian in situ Argo floats array, these new datasets may be used to validate widely used numerical models, such as the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM), and also potentially observe new salinity phenomena that …

Development And Application Of Foraminiferal Carbonate System Proxies To Quantify Ocean Acidification In The California Current, Emily B. Osborne

Theses and Dissertations

The oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon has mitigated climate change, but has also resulted in a global average 0.1 decline in surface ocean pH over 20th century known as ocean acidification. The parallel reduction in carbonate ion concentration ([CO32-]) and the saturation state of seawater (Ω) has caused many major calcium carbonate-secreting organisms such as planktonic foraminifera to exhibit impaired calcification. We develop proxy calibrations and down core records that use calcification and geochemical characteristics of planktonic foraminifera as proxies for the marine carbonate system. This study focuses specifically on the surface ocean chemistry of the California Current Ecosystem (CCE), …